Black Tennis Pros

The inaugural Winston-Salem Open, a new tournament on the ATP World Tour, got underway on Sunday with five matches on the schedule. Two of those first-round matches were played and won byAmericans James Blake and Donald Young.

Blake ran his record in the city to a perfect 7-0 on Sunday night as he beat Mikhail Kukushkin 7-5, 6-1 in his first-round match in the Winston-Salem Open. 

This came on Center Court at the new Wake Forest tennis complex, not across the street at Joel Coliseum, where Blake is unbeaten in six Davis Cup matches. But that didn’t seem to matter to the 31-year-old New Yorker.

"It’s great coming back here," Blake said. "Just across the street. It’s a little different being out in this heat and humidity, but it still feels great. The crowd obviously was incredibly supportive. A little different atmosphere than Davis Cup, but it’s still a lot of fun. I remember the area well and it’s good to be back and hopefully I’ll continue to play the way I did tonight, and maybe even better."

Blake won twice here in his Davis Cup debut in 2001 when the U.S. beat India in a relegation match. He tacked on two more wins in the U.S.’s quarterfinal win over Spain in 2007, then won two more in a quarterfinal win over France the following year.

"Winston-Salem has been good to me," he said. "It was such an emotional week that first time playing against India, right after 9-11, my first Davis Cup, with Andy Roddick. We had a blast. I still remember so much from that whole week, really. To be back here, it seems like not long ago, but it’s been over a decade, so that’s a little crazy. But it’s been a lot of fun from then to now, and hopefully I’ll get some more wins, too."

Blake started slowly against Kukushkin, who came into the match ranked No. 62 in the South African Airways ATP rankings.

"He has a second serve that I feel I can attack," Blake said. "One of my biggest weapons is my second serve return, being able to hurt guys with that and make them think about it a lot. I was able to do that today. I feel like the courts are pretty good for that. Hardcourts are always better for me, but these feel like they grab the ball a little bit and it gives me time to go after the second serve. Today it was effective. I feel like the only times I didn’t return it well were when I was just trying to get the ball in the court and was getting a little too tentative. Which is something I do less and less the more confident I am. But in the second set I was pretty confident going after him the whole time."

Confidence, Blake said, seems to be coming to him more and more as the summer goes on. He won two matches in Cincinnati last week before losing to Roger Federer in the third round.

"I’ve won a decent number of matches this summer and I’ve been playing pretty well and feeling like once you get into that routine, that rhythm of winning matches, it seems to snowball," Blake said. "You just feel when it’s 5-all you’re going to win that set. You just feel good out there on the court and you can go for your shots. That’s what happened at the end of the first set and then in the second."


Donald Young needed just 68 minutes to close out a 6-3, 6-4 win over German Michael Berrer.

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He's done it again!

St. Louis native Blake Strode has repeated his 2010 championship run at the this year's U.S. Open National Playoffs at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Strode defeated Australian Nathan Healey 7-6⁸, 7-6⁴.

By winning the tournament, Strode receives a wild card into the 2011 U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament to be held August 23-26, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

In 2009 Strode deferred Harvard Law School to pursue a professional tennis career, a move that paid off in a victory by winning the USTA Southwest Sectional Qualifying Tournament. Strode grew into tennis as a member of his local NJTL chapter in Ferguson, Missouri, and developed into an All-American for the University of Arkansas.

The men’s final was delayed by more than two hours due to rain, with Strode serving at 1-1, 40-0. Play was moved indoors and the quick courts led to easy service holds throughout the set, with no break point opportunities.

In the tiebreaker, both players held mini-break advantages on several occasions. Strode was the first to hold a set point opportunity at 6-5, and then Healey had his own opportunity to close out the set at 8-7. In the end, a backhand sent wide from Healey at 9-8 wrapped up the opening set.

“Honestly, that tiebreak is a blur now,” said Strode. “There was a goofy volley on set point that I missed and some bad calls on both sides. I was just able to hang on in the end.”

A forehand winner from Strode in the opening game of the second set gave him an immediate service break off Healey’s serve. The Aussie veteran had a break point opportunity at 3-2 in the second set, but was unable to convert.

With Strode serving for the championship at 5-4, the timing on his shots began to abandon him. A forehand error on Healey’s first break point opportunity leveled the match at 5-5, but a backhand passing shot in the next service game gave Strode the break back at 6-5. Serving for the match once again, Strode was unable to convert and another tiebreak took place.

“It was more that he played a couple of very good return games rather than me choking or missing a couple of easy shots,” said Strode. “There’s a reason he has accomplished all he has.”

The players remained on serve in the tiebreaker until 4-4, when a slice backhand into the net from Healey gave Strode the mini-break. On his first match point at 6-4, a backhand sent long from Healey wrapped up the match and secured Strode a spot in the US Open qualifying draw.

“It’s really cool to be the inaugural champion and then come back to win it again,” said Strode. “I’m just really glad they have this because it’s gotten me into the US Open twice now!”

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Robin Anderson receiving trophy

Matawan, New Jersey teen Robin Anderson maximized her 2011 U.S. Open National Playoffs opportunity with a win over 2010 UCLA graduate Robin Schnack 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to earn a spot into the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament.

The Playoffs have been held at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

The women were up first in the second match of the day on stadium court. Perhaps overwhelmed by the chance to compete in the US Open qualifying draw, Anderson opened up the match with three double faults to give Schnack an early break and struggled with her timing early on.

“I was very aware of my surroundings and the crowd,” said Anderson. “It took a little while to settle in.”

The first set was a back-and-forth encounter featuring numerous service breaks, but it was Schnack’s gutsy trips to the net that got her to prevail in the opening set. She followed up a forehand drive with a volley winner to reach set point at 6-5, and a backhand error from Anderson gave the California native a one-set lead.

Anderson had a break point in Schnack’s first service game of the second set, but missed it with a routine overhead. However, a forehand error from Schnack in her next service game gave Anderson a 3-1 lead.

Schnack gained the break back in Anderson’s next service game, but a forehand winner from the Matawan native gave her a 4-2 lead, and she rode the momentum through to the rest of the match, reeling off eight consecutive games in total.

“I just tried to stay more consistent and make her play one extra ball,” said Anderson. “She started missing a bit towards the end, which was definitely good for me.”

The final set was one-way traffic for Anderson. Schnack struggled to find the timing on her serve, hitting a pair of double faults to go down 2-0, and a double fault to also lose her next service game. Down 0-5, Schnack managed to hold serve and get on the board, but an ace down the middle from Anderson on her first match point gave her the match and the wildcard into the US Open qualifying tournament.

“I like my chances at qualifying,” said Anderson. “I think I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well this week.”

Despite the loss, Schnack was gracious in defeat afterwards.

“I want to thank the crowd for coming out here today and congratulate Robin for playing such a well-fought match,” said Schnack. “She definitely deserves it. I’m just glad that a Bruin will still be competing in the US Open.”

Anderson will be heading off to join the Bruins at UCLA in a few weeks where the top recruit has been signed to play tennis.

She's going in swinging!!

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Madison Keys, USA

College Park, Md — The youngest and the oldest of the 16 women’s and men’s players selected to play in this weekend’s U.S. Open Wild Card Playoffs punched their tickets to New York with convincing wins on a stormy and thundering Sunday near Washington D.C.

Welcome to the main draw of the U.S. Open, Madison Keys, age 16, and Bobby Reynolds, age 29, who won three matches each at the Junior Champions Tennis Training Center to earn the final U.S. Open main draw wild card singles spots handed out by the USTA.

Keys, the No. 7 seeded player from Boca Raton, Fla., ended any thoughts of a return trip to New York for Beatrice Capra with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 win while Reynolds of Acworth, Ga., had to take care of business indoors in a best-of-five final, downing 19-year-old Daniel Kosakowski, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.

Just last week, it was announced that Keys would be going to New York to compete in the qualifying tournament as a wild card. With qualifying beginning Tuesday, Keys said there was incentive to get a week off and that thought was one of the reasons she was able to turn things around so quickly Sunday against the crowd-favorite Capra from Ellicott, Md.

“I kind of just decided that I didn’t want to go to New York tonight (to play qualifying),” Keys said. “I wanted to go next week. I just focused on staying in the match and hopefully when I had the chance try to change things around. Now I get to go back home to Boca and sleep in tomorrow.”

Immediately following the win, Keys texted and called her mother while still on court.

“Mom was on the beach walking around and she was just saying how happy she was and proud she was of me,” Keys said. “My coach (Adam Peterson) was texting her during the match.”

Keys says she doesn’t care who she draws in the first round of the Open. “Just that I’m in the main draw is good enough for me,” adding she wouldn’t mind playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium. “But I definitely wouldn’t complain if I didn’t get to though,” she said.

Keys has already secured a spot with partner Samantha Crawford in the women’s doubles draw by winning the USTA Junior Championship a week ago.

Way to go Madison!!!

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The finals of the US Open National Playoffs will pit the defending champion Blake Strode against crafty veteran Nathan Healey, while an all-UCLA final between rising freshman Robin Anderson and recent graduate Yasmin Schnack was locked in on Saturday afternoon.

In the first men’s semifinal of the day, defending champion and No. 1 seed Blake Strode had little trouble in dispatching No. 4 seed Damon Gooch 6-1 6-1. Despite facing break points in three of his final four service games, Strode did not lose serve once all match as he easily advanced into the championship match.

“It was a lot closer than the score says,” said Strode. “He played well and there were a lot of long rallies out there, especially towards the end.”

Strode has dropped only six games in his three matches at the US Open National Playoffs, but he said that he has made sure to not get ahead of himself.

“I don’t ever think I’m the favorite when I go out there,” said Strode. “I just look at the person who’s in front of me as an obstacle and do my best to try and come through.”


In the second semifinal of the day, Anderson stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set against No. 3 seed Macall Harkins and had the lead for the duration of the match, not losing her serve once throughout the contest.

“I thought I served really well out there,” said Anderson. “I started to revert back in the second set and play a little bit too defensively, but was able to hang on in the end.”

Earlier in the day, Anderson competed in her second round qualifying match at the New Haven Open, where she lost 6-0, 7-5 to Anastasia Rodionova of Australia. However, Anderson she was quickly able to put the loss out of her mind.

“I knew I had another match to get prepared for,” said Anderson. “I just put the loss right out of my mind and came out ready to play.”

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Defending US Open National Playoffs men's champion Blake Strode continued to dominate, advancing to the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Tony Larson. Also reaching the semifinals were No. 2 David Martin, No. 4 Damon Gooch and Nathan Healey.

“The rallies were much longer today than in my first match yesterday,” said Strode. “He was hitting the ball really well and came out swinging from the first point. I was just able to hang in the rallies and come out on top for the most part.”

Strode has been in dominant form as of late, having dropped just four games in his two matches so far at the event. He also won his second USTA Pro Circuit singles title last week at a $10,000 event in Edwardsville, Ill., advancing through the draw without losing a set. Since winning the wild card into last year’s US Open Qualifying Tournament, he has climbed nearly 200 spots in the rankings to his current standing of No. 447.

“I think I’m doing almost everything better on the court than 12 months ago,” said Strode. “My forehand has more speed on it and my backhand has improved quite a bit. I’m happy with how things have progressed.”

Mashona Washington took a step closer to returning to the US Open on Day 2 of the US Open National Playoffs Men's and Women's Championships.

Washington's semifinal will pit her against No. 2 seed Yasmin Schnack, she beat No. 4 seed Amanda McDowell in straight sets. Washington is the only player remaining to have ever competed in the US Open with 13 previous appearances dating back to 1994, the most recent coming in the women’s doubles event in 2009.




Robin Anderson, who will be heading to UCLA this fall for her freshman year, continued her Cinderella run through the tournament after upsetting No. 1 seed Marie-Eve Pelletier in her first round match yesterday, putting on a clinic of counterpunching tennis as she dispatched Sylvia Kosakowski 6-3, 6-2.

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